What you need to know before the open – 20/12
With Christmas drawing ever nearer, today's the last day of the final full week of trading, but we've still got a fair amount of data coming in.
Disappointing numbers over in the US yesterday saw markets slip, finishing the day mixed.
But Europe moved up, meaning we could see the FTSE 100 finish higher for the first time in seven weeks.
A moderately upbeat European opening expected this morning. FTSE +12, DAX +24, CAC +13 – Bank stocks could do well, as lending margins widen
— David Buik (@truemagic68) December 20, 2013
German consumer confidence for January edged up (7.6 from 7.4), according to numbers from the GfK research group out this morning.
And in Friday trading, the Nikkei share average ended a turbulent session at its highest level in six years.
Asian reaction to tougher money market rates was mixed – ASX +1.07%, Shanghai -1.16%, Hang Seng -1.07%, Nikkei -0.23% at 5.37am
— David Buik (@truemagic68) December 20, 2013
Key events:
- Italian industrial orders for October at 9.00am.
- UK GDP for the third quarter at 9.30am. Expected at 0.8 per cent from 0.7 per cent.
- UK public sector net borrowing for December at 9.30am. Expected at £6.6bn from 6.383bn.
- Italy retail sales for October at 10.00am.
- US GDP for the third quarter at 1.30pm. Expected at 3.6 per cent from 2.5 per cent.
- Eurozone consumer confidence for December at 3.00pm. Expected at -15 from 15.4.